Africa-Press – Uganda. SECURITY RESHUFFLES
KAMPALA – President Yoweri on Wednesday appointed Maj. Gen. Paul Lokech as the new Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIGP) replacing Maj. Gen. Sabiiti Muzeyi citing frustrations from the police force.The President in his radio message congratulated the Uganda Peoples Defence Forces (UPDF) for defeating the insurrection that the traitors with their foreign backers attempted to stage a few weeks back in reference to November 18 and 19 riots that engulfed parts of the country following the arrest of National Unity Platform (NUP) Presidential Aspirant Robert Kyagulanyi in Luuka district.He further noted that “the police force must be made to do its duty of defending Ugandan’s from lawlessness, threat to life and property, any police persons that does not do this must leave the force, there are thousand ready to replace them,” Museveni said perhaps explaining why Muzeyi was sent back to Army Headquarters for redeployment.Sources also revealed that the November 18-19 demonstrations by the NUP supporters and continuous failure by police to reign in on NUP supporters who were defying Electoral Commission and Ministry of Health directives angered the President.”As Deputy IGP, Muzeyi was the man tasked with coordinating the respective police departments tasked with quelling the riots and also ensuring the covid-19 guidelines are adhered to, among others,” a source revealed.The November riots led to the loss of over 50 people some innocent bystanders.”The President’s concern was more on how the police which took charge of the arrest handled the demonstrations and failed to take note of the subsequent destruction of property and loss of lives,” a source in security noted.President Museveni who is also the Commander In Chief of the Armed Forces on Wednesday carried out a reshuffle within the Security agencies and re-appointed Lt. Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba back to the Special Forces Command (SFC) replacing Maj. Gen. James Birungi.Maj Gen. Lokech who was on a special assignment “to monitor on behalf of the guarantors of the South Sudan peace process, the assembling, screening, demobilization and integration of the armed forces of South Sudan” was appointed Deputy IGP replacing Maj. Gen. Sabiiti Muzeyi who was sent back to the Army headquarters for redeployment.Maj. Gen. Birungi replaced Lokech. Museveni also re-appointed Okoth Ochola as Inspector General of Police.Muzeyi was appointed Deputy IGP in March 2018 replacing the current IGP Martin Okoth Ochola, who was promoted to IGP.Sabiiti then a Brigadier was the commandant of the Military Police of the UPDF a job said he had executed extremely well. A First-Class Honors degree holder of Bachelor of Science, Muzeyi joined the UPDF in 1997 as a cadet officer under the then Presidential Protection Unit (PPU) now named Special Forces Command graduating at the top.While in PPU, Sabiti was credited with a number of high-profile operations some of which included providing security for the United States President Bill Clinton while on a visit to Uganda in 1998. He would later enrol for several courses and also when the PPU was rebranded and renamed the Presidential Guard Brigade with Muhoozi at the helm of the institution, Sabiti who was then at the rank of Lt. Colonel became his deputy.He was later appointed to head the Military Police owing to his credible work at PGB until his appointment as Deputy IGP. In February 2019, Muzeyi was promoted to the rank of Major General.Sources in security noted that as Deputy IGP, Maj. Gen. Sabiiti was the hands-on guy and the man the Commander in Chief had trust in handling police operational matters.”But it seems his nature of operations never fitted well with the police and in most cases, his commands were never taken up by Senior Police Officers credited with leading the operations,” the source noted.He also remained a behind the scenes guy and preferred to watch from far, a security source added.The source also revealed that during his operational work, Muzeyi was also pitied against some powerful forces within the army that he failed to challenge. Giving the case of Sembabule the source revealed that an operation to try and disarm armed men in Sembabule led by Sabiti turned to be a failure after senior military officers who were in support of the candidates declined to surrender their guns.The battle-hardened Lokech, is one of the senior UPDF commanders who has earned the army huge respect on the continent due to his dedication and commitment in almost all the missions he had undertaken. He is credited with defeating the Al-Shabaab and kicking them out of Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia.In December 2019, Maj Gen Lokech was sent to South Sudan on an assignment to monitor on behalf of the guarantors of the South Sudan peace process, the assembling, screening, demobilization and integration of the armed forces of South Sudan a job he did so well.As Uganda heads to elections in January 2021, the National Resistance Movement is being challenged closely by NUP headed by Kyagulanyi. Given the frustrations the President has had with Kyagulanyi’s troops, no better person can effectively command the police than Lokech also popularly known as Mr Fixer.His biggest challenge will be to clean the force and also put his face and command to police operations as they fight criminality.
